Chapter 14: Slavery and America’s Future: The Road to War, 1845–1861 1
CHAPTER 14
Slavery and America’s Future: The Road to War, 1845–1861
Learning Objectives
After you have studied Chapter 14 in your textbook and worked through this study guide chapter, you should be able to:
1.Discuss President Polk’s expansionist objectives, and examine the manner in which these objectives were achieved.
2.Explain the dissension and fears that emerged as a result of the Mexican War, and discuss the political, social, and economic consequences of the war.
3.Examine the issues and personalities and explain the outcome of the 1848 presidential election.
4.Identify the sectional disputes that led to the Compromise of 1850, and cite the provisions of the Compromise.
5.Explain the reemergence of sectional tension between 1850 and 1854, dealing specifically with:
a.the Fugitive Slave Act.
b.Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
c.the Underground Railroad.
d.the election of Franklin Pierce.
6.Examine the issues and personalities and explain the outcome of the 1852 presidential election.
7.Explain the introduction of and debate over the Kansas-Nebraska bill; cite the bill’s provisions; and examine the consequences of its enactment into law.
8.Examine the realignment of political affiliations and political parties in the United States during the 1850s.
9.Explain the political, social, and economic philosophy of the Republican Party, the reasons for its appeal among northern voters, and the forces that led to the party’s success in the 1860 election.
10.Examine the issues and personalities and explain the outcome of the 1856 presidential election.
11.Explain the Supreme Court’s decision in Dred Scott v.Sanford, and examine the impact of the decision on the political parties and their leaders and on northern and southern public opinion.
12.Examine the issues and personalities and explain the outcome of the 1860 presidential election.
13.Discuss the failure of attempts at compromise after the 1860 election, and explain the success of the secession movement in seven southern states between December 1860 and March 1861.
Thematic Guide
Chapter 14 has as its theme the interplay of several forces that paved the road to war in the period between 1845 and 1861. Two of the forces, territorial expansion and slavery, might at first glance seem separate, but in fact the two became inseparably intertwined because of the addition of a third force—the perceptions (frames of reference) of the two antagonists, North and South, toward each other: “[The Republican Party] charged southerners with using the power of the federal government and planning to make slavery legal throughout the Union. Southern leaders defended slavery and charged the North with unconstitutional efforts to destroy it.” The application of such perceptions to the twin forces of territorial expansion and slavery provided the catalyst necessary to produce sectional polarization, disunion, and war.
The Mexican War heightened northern fear of a Slave Power. This fear, present in the North since passage of the gag rule in 1836, was caused by the belief that southern power and the expansion of slavery were jeopardizing the liberties of whites. Northerners began to see a Slave-Power conspiracy behind most of the events of the era, and, as a result, they became more and more antislavery in sentiment. The nature of northern fears and analysis of the Wilmot Proviso demonstrate that northern antislavery sentiment was racist and, in the sense that northerners wanted the territories for the expansion of their economic system (based on the free wage-labor system) as opposed to the slave-labor system of the South, self-serving in its orientation.
Furthermore, the Mexican War, through introduction of the Wilmot Proviso into the House of Representatives, heightened southern fear that a hostile North was attempting to undermine and eventually abolish the institution of slavery. Southerners began to see an antislavery conspiracy behind most of the events of the era, and since such a conspiracy seemed tied to the northern abolitionist movement, southerners began to defend slavery more vociferously and, through John C. Calhoun’s state-sovereignty theories, claimed slaveowners’ rights were constitutionally protected.
Acquisition of territory from Mexico caused slavery expansion to become the overriding issue in the presidential election of 1848. The Democrats and the Whigs began to fragment as a result of sectional antagonisms, and the presence of the Free-Soil Party was partially responsible for Zachary Taylor’s election as president. Between 1848 and 1850 several other issues emerged and caused further dissension. The most troublesome matter was the rights of settlers in the territories. The Compromise of 1850, rather than settling this and other issues, became a source of argument, which was further fueled by publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
As southern leaders began to feel more and more threatened by the antislavery arguments coming from the North, they developed a variety of proslavery arguments designed to explain the necessity of expanding slavery and to counter the moral arguments against slavery. Furthermore, to prevent congressional action, the South continued to advance states’ rights constitutional theories.
The election of Franklin Pierce to the presidency and the domestic and foreign policy decisions of his administration had the effect of further feeding northern fear that the Slave Power had captured control of the national government. Northerners saw passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and its repeal of the Missouri Compromise as a proslavery act inspired by the Slave Power. The shock waves from passage of this act brought the destruction of the Whig Party, the birth of the Republican and American Parties, and a complete realignment of the political system in the United States. In this realignment, the Republican Party, by appealing to groups interested in the economic development of the West and by expounding an ideology based on the dignity of labor, became the dominant party in the North. Concurrently, the Democratic Party, by arguing that slavery elevated the status of all whites, appealing to racism, and emphasizing the “rights” of southerners, became the party of the South. In addition, northerners linked Democrats with the Slave Power, while southerners linked Republicans with radical abolitionists.
Events now came in rapid succession—“Bleeding Kansas,” the Sumner-Brooks affair, the Dred Scott decision, John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, the splintering of the Democratic Party, and Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860. Each drove the wedge more deeply between the two sections and served to harden opinions. However, analysis of the 1860 election results indicates that the electorate did not vote in favor of extreme action. Compromise was made impossible first by Lincoln’s refusal to soften his party’s stand on the expansion of slavery into the territories. The situation was exacerbated by the adoption of the separate-state secession strategy by southern extremists, which led to the secession of seven southern states between the time of Lincoln’s election and his inauguration. Lincoln’s subsequent decision as president to reprovision the federal fort in the Charleston harbor brought the first shots of what was to be the Civil War.
Building Vocabulary
Listed below are important words and terms that you need to know to get the most out of Chapter 14. They are listed in the order in which they occur in the chapter. After carefully looking through the list, (1) underline the words with which you are totally unfamiliar, (2) put a question mark by those words of which you are unsure, and (3) leave the rest alone.
As you begin to read the chapter, when you come to any of the words you have put question marks beside or underlined, (1) slow your reading; (2) focus on the word and on its context in the sentence you are reading; (3) if you can understand the meaning of the word from its context in the sentence or passage in which it is used, go on with your reading; (4) if it’s a word that you have underlined or a word that you can’t understand from its context in the sentence or passage, look it up in a dictionary and write down the definition that best applies to the context in which the word is used.
Definitions
maelstrom______
riven______
enmity______
oligarchy______
ominous______
venerable______
omnibus______
ambiguity______
clandestine______
transcontinental______
sinister______
demise______
retrograde______
laud______
viable______
amalgamation______
polarize______
hyperbole______
secession______
acquiesce______
succinctly______
shroud______
Identification [kl1]and Significance
After studying Chapter 14 of A People and a Nation, you should be able to identify and explain fully the historical significance of each item listed below.
- Identify each item in the space provided. Give an explanation or description of the item. Answer the questions who, what, where, and when.
- Explain the historical significance of each item in the space provided. Establish the historical context in which the item exists. Establish the item as the result of or as the cause of other factors existing in the society under study. Answer this question: What were the political, social, economic, and/or cultural consequences of this item?
1.the Republican Party
a.Identification
b.Significance
2.James K. Polk
a.Identification
b.Significance
3.the Oregon Treaty
a.Identification
b.Significance
4.the Mexican War
a.Identification
b.Significance
5.the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
a.Identification
b.Significance
6.the Slave Power
a.Identification
b.Significance
7.the Wilmot Proviso
a.Identification
b.Significance
8.John C. Calhoun’s state sovereignty theories
a.Identification
b.Significance
9.the ideal of free labor
a.Identification
b.Significance
10.the presidential election of 1848
a.Identification
b.Significance
11.popular sovereignty
a.Identification
b.Significance
12.the Free-Soil Party
a.Identification
b.Significance
13.the Compromise of 1850
a.Identification
b.Significance
14.the Fugitive Slave Act
a.Identification
b.Significance
15.the Christiana riot
a.Identification
b.Significance
16.Uncle Tom’s Cabin
a.Identification
b.Significance
17.the Underground Railroad
a.Identification
b.Significance
18.Harriet Tubman
a.Identification
b.Significance
19.the presidential election of 1852
a.Identification
b.Significance
20.Franklin Pierce
a.Identification
b.Significance
21.Anthony Burns
a.Identification
b.Significance
22.personal-liberty laws
a.Identification
b.Significance
23.Stephen A. Douglas
a.Identification
b.Significance
24.the Kansas-Nebraska bill
a.Identification
b.Significance
25.the American (Know-Nothing) Party
a.Identification
b.Significance
26.“Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men”
a.Identification
b.Significance
27.the southern version of republicanism
a.Identification
b.Significance
28.Bleeding Kansas
a.Identification
b.Significance
29.John Brown
a.Identification
b.Significance
30.the Sumner-Brooks affair
a.Identification
b.Significance
31.James Buchanan
a.Identification
b.Significance
32.the presidential election of 1856
a.Identification
b.Significance
33.the Dred Scott case
a.Identification
b.Significance
34.Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech
a.Identification
b.Significance
35.the Lecompton Constitution
a.Identification
b.Significance
36.the “Mormon War” in Utah
a.Identification
b.Significance
37.the Panic of 1857
a.Identification
b.Significance
38.John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry
a.Identification
b.Significance
39.the 1860 Democratic convention
a.Identification
b.Significance
40.the presidential election of 1860
a.Identification
b.Significance
41.the Crittenden Compromise
a.Identification
b.Significance
42.separate-state secession strategy
a.Identification
b.Significance
43.the Confederate States of America
a.Identification
b.Significance
44.the attack on Fort Sumter
a.Identification
b.Significance
Organizing, Reviewing, and Using Information
Chart A[BNP2]
Print out the chart on the pages that follow. Then, in the appropriate blanks, enter brief notes to help you recall key information in Chapter 14 and class lectures relevant to the chart’s subject. Use your completed chart to review for your next test, to identify potential essay questions, and to guide you in composing mock essays answering the questions you think you are most likely to be asked.
How Six Factors Widened the North-South Rift, 1844–1861Point of Disagreement / Position Associated with the South / Position Associated with the North
Factor 1: War with Mexico (May 1846–February 1848)
Motives for War
Wilmot Proviso and the State Sovereignty Argument
California’s Application for Admission to the Union
“Popular Sovereignty” and the Clay-Douglas Bill[BNP3]
Factor 2: The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
Federal enforcement
Resistance and Personal Liberty Laws[BNP4]
factor 3: Kansas–Nebraska Bill
Missouri Compromise
Political Parties
Kansas violence
Election of 1856
Chart A continued on next page.
How Six Factors Widened the North-South Rift, 1844-1861 (cont’d from previous page)Point of Disagreement / Position Associated with the South / Position Associated with the North
Factor 4: dred scott Decision
Missouri Compromise
Citizenship of African-Americans
Congressional Auth-ority Over Territorial Slavery Questions
Lecompton Constitution Vote in Kansas
factor 5: John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry
Abolitionists’ Financial Support
Republican Attitudes
factor 6: campaign and election of 1860
Democrat Party
Crittenden Compromise
Secession and Federal Authority
.
Chart B
[BNP5]Print out the chart on the page that follows. Then, in the appropriate blanks, enter brief notes to help you recall key information in Chapter 14 and class lectures relevant to the chart’s subject. Use your completed chart to review for your next test, to identify potential essay questions, and to guide you in composing mock essays answering the questions you think you are most likely to be asked.
Slavery and Inter-preting the Consti-tution, 1845–1861Sectional Answers
Questions / Answer Implied by the
Wilmot Proviso[BNP6] / Southern / Northern / Answer Implied by the Comprom-ise of 1850
of 1850 / Answer Implied by the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) / Supreme Court (Dred Scott decision)
Do the people living in a territory not yet granted statehood have the constitutional authority to accept or ban slavery?
Does Congress have the constitutional authority to decide to allow or ban slavery in a territory not yet granted statehood[BNP7]?
Are people and governmental authorities legally responsible for returning slaves to other states or territories from which they have run away?
Ideas and Details
Objective 1
1.President Polk agreed to a negotiated settlement with Great Britain over the Oregon Territory because
a.he wanted to avoid the possibility of simultaneous wars with Great Britain and Mexico.
b.it was obvious that the American people would not support the use of force to gain questionable territory.
c.public disclosures by Polk’s enemies in the Senate weakened United States claims.
d.the British were willing to grant the United States all its demands.
Objective 2
2.Both the Mexican War and the gag rule
a.aroused fears about presidential power.
b.aroused fears about subversive foreign influence within the United States government.
c.made the idea of a Slave Power believable.
d.were supported by New Englanders.
Objective 2
3.The Wilmot Proviso stipulated that
a.slavery would be permitted in Utah and New Mexico but prohibited in California.
b.blacks would be colonized in the territory acquired from Mexico.
c.the civil and political rights of blacks would be guaranteed in the territory acquired from Mexico.
d.slavery would be prohibited in all territory acquired from Mexico.
Objective 3
4.Zachary Taylor’s victory in the 1848 presidential election was, in large part, due to
a.the support he received from William Lloyd Garrison and the abolitionists.
b.the fragmentation of the political parties along sectional lines over the issue of slavery in the territories.
c.his decisive stand against the expansion of slavery into the territories.
d.President Polk’s endorsement.
Objectives 4 and 5
5.One of the basic flaws in the Compromise of 1850 was the
a.failure to abolish the slave trade in the nation’s capital.
b.admission of California as a slave state.
c.ambiguity that surrounded the idea of popular sovereignty.
d.extension of the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific Ocean.
Objective 7
6.The Kansas-Nebraska Act
a.rejected the concept of popular sovereignty.
b.unified the Whig Party against the Slave Power.
c.was introduced as a proslavery measure.
d.repealed the Missouri Compromise.
Objective 9
7.Which of the following statements best expresses the beliefs of the Republican Party in the 1850s?
a.Acceptance of the dignity of labor is essential to the future progress of the United States.
b.The central government should remain limited in its power and should not intervene in the economic life of the states.
c.Slavery is morally wrong and should be abolished immediately.
d.All ethnic groups living in the United States should be afforded political, social, and economic equality.
Objective 8
8.Southern Democrats appealed to nonslaveholders in the South by
a.promising to make slaves available to all white southerners.
b.arguing that slavery made all white men equal.
c.supporting a homestead bill for the western territories.
d.supporting the use of federal funds for internal improvements in the South.
Objectives 7, 8, 9, and 10
9.Analysis of the presidential election of 1856 reveals that the
a.Democratic Party had become a purely sectional party.
b.Republican Party was partially successful in gaining support in the South.
c.Republican Party had become the dominant party in the North.
d.voters preferred the candidate whose stand on the territorial questions was clear.
Objective 11
10.In the Dred Scott decision, the Court held that
a.property rights were to be subordinated to individual rights.
b.it was impossible for a slave to be freed.
c.Congress could not prohibit slavery in the territories.
d.a slave moving into a free state became a free person.
Objectives 9 and 12
11.Which of the following best expresses the beliefs of Abraham Lincoln?
a.The territories must be open to all people in the United States.
b.Slavery is morally wrong and must be abolished immediately.
c.The question of the expansion of slavery into the territories can best be decided through the use of popular sovereignty.
d.The Slave Power threatens to expand not only into the territories but into the free states as well.
Objective 11
12.In the aftermath of the Dred Scott decision, Stephen Douglas
a.asserted that the decision did not have the force of law and was not to be obeyed.
b.angered southerners by standing by his principle of popular sovereignty.